Stables. In pro wrestling, they're an easy and efficient way to get over a group of wrestlers who either need to be elevated on the card, or who otherwise have no specific role on the roster at that moment. When used in the 1980s, stables effectively allowed the WWF to marshal heels in efforts against Hulkamania, and allowed the NWA to do similar work in chasing down the likes of Sting and Dusty Rhodes. In the modern era, the WCW's greatest success came when the New World Order redefined the line between work and shoot for the 21st century. Of course, for every successful stable, there are those times when stables get overcrowded and lose effectiveness. Usually due to companies finding that everything and everyone attached to a particular group is truly "over," a greater number of wrestlers are attached to the group who are either a) doing nothing on the roster or b) are believed to be able to parlay alignment with a stable into becoming more "over" as a performer. In the aforementioned examples of great stables, both Bobby Heenan's "Family" and the nWo both make this list as being stables that failed in their effectiveness once too many wrestlers became involved. For as important as stables are, sometimes there are moments where there is absolutely too much of a good thing.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
